The front-runner in Sri Lanka’s presidential campaign promised that he would rehabilitate and release all military personnel accused of abuses in the country’s civil war, according to a campaign manifesto released on Friday.
Former Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence permanent secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said former Tamil Tiger rebels who are imprisoned for their actions in the war would also be released after rehabilitation.
He said last week that if he wins, he would not recognize an agreement the government made with the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged war crimes during the civil war.
Photo: Reuters
On Friday, Rajapaksa said he would not allow “any foreign force to make any unnecessary interference in Sri Lanka.”
Rajapaksa served as a powerful defense official during the war under his brother, former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He has been accused of condoning rape, extrajudicial executions and abductions, charges he denies.
He is also considered the leading candidate in the Nov. 16 presidential election.
It was not clear what he meant by “rehabilitation.” Rajapaksa and his camp have not explained it further.
According to conservative UN estimates, about 100,000 people were killed in the 26-year civil war. A UN report later said that about 40,000 civilians might have been killed in the final months of the fighting alone.
“Even though we took steps to pardon, rehabilitate and release 13,784 Tiger members who surrendered with arms, such steps were not taken in relation to soldiers who faced different accusations related to the wartime,” the manifesto said.
It said steps would be taken to “systematically rehabilitate and reintegrate” into society not only soldiers, but also members of the Tamil Tigers who are facing different accusations related to the war.
Sri Lanka’s government ordered Tamil rebels and any civilians with remote relations to the rebel group to surrender after they were boxed inside a narrow strip of land in the final days of the war in 2009.
The government says it released 13,784 people who surrendered, but families say they saw their relatives taken away in buses by soldiers and were never seen again.
A protest demanding information about the missing relatives has continued for years.
Rajapaksa’s manifesto does not talk about the missing, but he told reporters earlier this month that no one had disappeared other than those who participated in active combat, and that included thousands of soldiers.
People must forget the past and move on, he said.
Rajapaksa is a hero to many Sri Lankans — especially ethnic majority Sinhalese — for his crucial role in ending the war. His popularity has been on the rise after Easter suicide attacks by Muslim militants that killed 269 people and wounded 400 others.
On Friday, he said strengthening national security would be a prime responsibility of his government and vowed to “rebuild the state security mechanism to make Sri Lanka a safer country, which would be free from terrorism, underworld acts, drug menace and violence.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese